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"Sources familiar with the matter" are telling AllThingsD that Apple's next product announcement will be taking place on October 22 and that the event will likely focus on new iPads, the Mac Pro, and OS X 10.9 Mavericks. AllThingsD has a strong track record when it comes to Apple news (the publication correctly predicted the company's September 10 iPhone event), and the date would make sense given the iPad-focused announcements Apple made in October of 2012. If Apple's scheduling is the same as it normally is, look for official invitations to go out at some point next Tuesday.

Apple refreshed a good-sized chunk of its product line in September—its event on September 10 gave us iOS 7 and a pair of new iPhones. The iMac was quietly refreshed with new Haswell CPUs a couple of weeks later. That said, much of Apple's lineup is still due for some sprucing up. The larger iPad is expected to get a physical redesign to bring it more in line with the iPad mini, and the mini may (or may not) be getting a Retina display to go with the expected internal upgrades. Both Retina MacBook Pros and the new Mac Pro that Apple first teased back in June are also due for a release date, and all of these product lines are sufficiently high-profile that we could see them sharing stage time with the iPads at the event (the Mac mini is also due for a Haswell refresh, but don't expect Apple to dwell much on its smallest, cheapest Mac). Both the redesigned 2012 iMac and the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro were unveiled at last year's October event, and the recent Golden Master build of OSX 10.9 gives Apple even more reason to talk up its Macs.

Analysts are also looking for an all-new (perhaps watch-shaped) product line, but if it's coming, Apple's notoriously sieve-like supply chain has yet to give us any indication. We would expect an event that focuses primarily on the iPads and on Apple's professional Macs at this point. Whatever is announced, we'll be covering the events as they happen, and we'll be giving the review treatment to any new hardware and software that Apple sees fit to release.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites